Max M. Warburg (5 June 1867 – 26 December 1946) was a Jewish-German-American banker and was, from 1910 until 1938, director of M.M.Warburg & CO in
HamburgHamburg is the second-largest city in Germany and the sixth-largest city in the European Union...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
. Prior to his directing of the Warburg banking company, he developed apprenticeships in Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris, and London. As head of that important firm, he advised Kaiser Wilhelm II prior to
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
.
Prior to the
Russian Revolution of 1917The Russian Revolution is the collective term for the series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. In the first revolution of February 1917 the Czar was deposed and replaced by a Provisional government...
, Warburg played a role in financing the
BolshevikThe Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903...
movement, reportedly providing funding for a Bolshevik publishing house in 1916. Although Warburg's actions reflected the general German policy of subverting
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
from within in order to end
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, Warburg's involvement has been used by anti-semitic groups as "proof" of a zionist-bolshevik conspiracy.
In the 1930s, despite the rise of the Nazi Party, Warburg felt there was hope for the future in Germany and tried to wait out the Nazi crisis. Beginning in 1933 he served on the board of the German
ReichsbankThe Reichsbank was the central bank of Germany from 1876 until 1945. It was founded on 1 January 1876 . The Reichsbank was a privately owned central bank of Prussia, under close control by the Reich government. Its first president was Hermann von Dechend...
under governor
Hjalmar SchachtDr. Horace Greeley Hjalmar Schacht was the Currency Commissioner and President of the Reichsbank under the Weimar Republic, and President of the Reichsbank between 1933 and 1939...
. However, because he was Jewish, he ultimately had to sell the bank because of Nazi persecution (economic antisemitism) and emigrate in 1938 to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Max Warburg was also a member of the board of the industrial conglomerate
IG FarbenI.G. Farbenindustrie AG was a German chemical industry conglomerate. Its name is taken from Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG . The company was formed in 1925 from a number of major companies that had been working together closely since World War I...
from its inception in 1925 until he was ousted because of his Jewish ethnicity (under Nazi laws, IG Farben would count as a "Jewish company" and thus would likely face confiscation/seizure if Jewish board members were not removed).
Max Warburg married Alice Magnus in 1899, and together they had four daughters and a son, Eric Warburg (1900—1990), founder of E.M. Warburg & Co, later known as
Warburg PincusWarburg Pincus, LLC is a private equity firm with offices in the United States, Europe, and Asia. It has been a private equity investor since 1966. The firm currently has approximately $25 billion in assets under management and invests in a range of sectors including consumer, energy, financial...
.
His brother
Paul WarburgPaul Moritz Warburg was a Jewish-German-American banker and early advocate of the U.S. Federal Reserve system.- Early life :...
was the chief architect of the Federal Reserve Board in the United States.
1926 American I.G. founded as a holding company controlling I.G. Farben assets in the United States. Some board members were Edsel Ford, Charles Mitchell (President of Rockefellers National City Bank of New York), Walt Teagle (President of Standard Oil), Paul Warburg (Federal Reserve chairman and brother of Max Warbug, Director of American I.G.) and Herman Metz, a director of the Bank of Manhattan, controlled by the Warburgs. Three other members of the Board of Governors for American I.G. were tried and convicted as German war criminals.